The Reef (Haifa) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for your local stretch.

To be straight with you, this 16-day window is a tough watch. Most of the time the swell is tiny, the wind is messy, and the conditions are just plain poor. You’re looking at a long stretch of waiting, with nothing really worth paddling out for until the very end of the month, and even that is a long shot.

Starting from Thursday, August 13th, the surf is basically flat. We’re talking ankle-snatchers at best, with the swell hanging around 1ft to 3ft, mostly from the WNW, and the period is short, around 5-7 seconds. That’s weak, wind-affected slop. The combined energy never gets above 119, which is still only moderate wave energy. The wind is cross to cross-on most days, so it’s choppy and bumpy. There’s just no quality on offer. This pattern just keeps repeating day after day, with no real change. The first 10 days or so are a total write-off for any decent surf.

The one day that pokes its head above the mediocrity is Sunday, August 16th, in the morning. The swell hits 3ft from the WNW with an 8-second period, and the combined energy climbs to 119 – the highest in the whole run. But the wind is still a light cross-shore, so while it’s the best of a bad bunch, it’s still not good. It’s just not worth getting too excited about. After that, it’s right back to small, weak, and choppy for another week.

The Reef (Haifa) is an exposed beach and reef setup, but it’s inconsistent and rarely breaks well. This is one of those spots that needs a really specific swell direction from the west to work. The optimum swell direction is from the west, but most of the small bumps we see are from the WNW, so the angle is slightly off. The water is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year, sitting at a very warm 85°F, with an anomaly of 3°F.

Honestly, for a surfer looking for a wave, this is a blank run. There are no standout days, no clean windows of glassy offshore wind, and no solid swell. For the first week, forget it. For the second week, from around August 21st onward, the swell stays small, the wind is mostly onshore, and the scores are all zeros. The last two days of the month show a tiny pulse of WSW wind and some light cross-onshore breezes, but with swell heights at 1ft to 2ft and short periods, it’s not worth a trip. For kite surfers, the strong onshore winds from August 20th (19 mph from the NNW) might look interesting, but for a paddle surfer, there’s nothing to chase. Forecasts can change, but right now, it’s a waiting game.

Rusty.

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